Creative Directors and Online Videos

First off – what’s a creative director and what is their role in a company?

Tough question, simply because creative directors can take on so many roles. They can be lead designers, art directors, have positions in graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media, web development, and software development firms as well so, they cover quite a large field.

In essence, they lead a team that will then create a consistent marketing and brand identity for a client.They are marketers and advertisers, they are creative but really have to understand how business works.

“The creative directors are pretty much the top of the hierarchical chain and are generally vice-presidents. Creative directors are the ones who come up with the concepts for the Nike ‘just do it’ ads, or whatever the tagline might be,” says creative director Wayne Bennett.

Creative directors and advertising

Creative directors are now shifting from older print media to newer media.

Metro has responded to the demand for this and their aim now is to help brands “make more impact” in the digital world, according to creative director Sophie Robinson. “I think brands are increasingly realizing that they have to do something for their audience, they can’t just be there, they have to actually be doing something.” The viewers need to be engaged!

This is where video and creative directors combine. Now they are using video to advertise for their client on places such as YouTube and even social media such as Twitter.

Creative Examples!

Creative example #1.

The creative directors of Us, Guy Moore & Tony Malcolm, made this ad for McDonald’s.

Why it works: Moore and Malcolm did a good job identifying the well known feeling felt by employees (without them having to say one word). A video that is in touch with a relate-able emotion, is one that will be (re)watched and remembered.

Creative example #2

Or, how about the really clever ad for Sunday Times. Creative director, Dave Monk, really upholds what Sunday Times would like it’s viewers to experience, a “Culture Month”.

Did you catch every icon? Here it is in order: The Thinker, Forrest Gump, Mad Men, Creation of Adam, Reservoir Dogs & Daft Punk.

Why it works: Dave Monk creatively showed these culture icons with as little as possible—2 actors, 6 icons, all in one shot. Also, behind the idea: it gets the viewers engaged because everyone wants to identify the culture icon—it actually becomes quite fun!

Creative Example #3

Creative/Art director from Sweden understands that to sell his Volvo, he’s gonna need to go digital.

Why it works: The ad is all irony, people love irony. It is humorous because it is unexpected. The reactions would be different had this ad been put on print, it probably wouldn’t have gotten this much attention. It hasn’t been a month yet, and the video has gotten almost 1.4M views!

Creative Example #4

Hello 2015! “A new year has begun and the only thing that matters is what our attitude will be towards all the challenges ahead”. This was an amazing video email marketing campaign created by our own CEO, which happens to come from the advertising industry. More than 600 people supported us in 2014. To say “Thank you!” we use our own tool to automatically generate a personalized video for each one. Don’t worry, it was very easy with Sezion:-).

Creative Example #5

This video, by the creative directors of TBWA Spain, showed the epitome of engagement with its viewers.

Why it works: Cruz Roja and Vichy partnered up to create a video to send out a message for everyone to be smart during the summer. The engagement part comes in when they announced that anyone could be a part of their video! They asked to have videos sent in by anyone, and soon enough, many viewers became actors & had their 15 seconds of fame. We, at Sezion, had ours at 2:52!

Fun fact: Vichy & Cruz Roja used Sezion’s API and scripting language (our video making skills— for the rest of us who aren’t familiar with those words) to make their video & they really had fun doing it! They had over 1 million views on their collaborative videos in about 3 months. Video for the win!